The Chair informed the meeting that a number of questions had been received in advance of the meeting, and the responses from the appropriate officers to each of these, which were read out at the meeting, were listed below, along with the name of the questioner.

1.  Mr Gillett, Wallasey

“Public highways in Wirral are inspected on a regular basis to identify areas in need of maintenance work; this is in line with the code of good practice for well maintained highways. All actionable defects are noted and instructions issued for repair. The Highways Inspector for this area will monitor these roads and take action when deemed necessary. Martins Lane and Serpentine Road are included in this year’s programme of work and this will be completed in the near future.”

2.  Mrs Wharton, Wallasey

“Public highways in Wirral are inspected on a regular basis to identify areas in need of maintenance work; this is in line with the code of good practice for well maintained highways. All actionable defects are noted and instructions issued for repair. The Highways Inspector for this area will visit this location and take action where deemed necessary. 

Following the Council’s budget savings programme, cleansing work previously on a weekly basis is now cleansed on a four weekly cycle. This location is next due to be cleaned on Monday 30 June 2014. The pavement of the shops between Percy Road and Wheatland Lane are, however, cleaned every Tuesday and Thursday. 

The Council is running a dog fouling campaign this summer targeting up to 120 dog fouling hot spots. This location will be fed into the Waste and Recycling team as a potential area to target.”

3.  Ms Jones, Moreton

“The land in question [Epsom Road estate both by Epsom Road and Newbury Way] is privately owned and Streetscene are sending a letter to the owner requesting that the land is maintained.

With regard to the play area, modifications have been made to the design of the play area to reduce the height and size of some of the equipment, etc, based on feedback from local residents. The play area has now been out to tender and construction is due to start in the next week.”

4.  Mr Fayle, Moreton

The questioner had asked, ‘Why is there not a path between the bypass between Tesco Bidston and Fender riding school?’ This request had been forwarded to the Council’s Traffic Section for consideration and a response.

5.  Mrs Lockley, Wallasey

The questioner had asked about the unkempt flower troughs on the side of the road as traffic exits the Wallasey tunnel. She had suggested that it could be a ‘great project for gardening apprentices by teaching them and letting them paint the troughs and plant out some fresher looking horticultural plants. Hence giving the tunnel exits a much more loved look.’

The response was that ‘This will be investigated to establish ownership and the proposal suggested will be explored.’

6.  Ms Moore, Wallasey

The questioner had asked about a brown bin causing an obstruction in Berwyn Road, Liscard. Following submission of the question the bin had been removed.

7.  Mr Youds, Saughall Massie

“The frequency of grass cutting [Birchfield, Saughall Massie] has reduced due to budget savings. Due to unforeseen operational reasons and a period of very wet and warm weather it has resulted in the grass being longer than we are satisfied with within this particular area. We aim to cut highway verges every 12.5 working days weather permitting. Every effort is being taken to bring these verges back to an acceptable standard.” 

The grass at this location was subsequently cut on 20 June.

Members of the public present at the meeting were then invited to ask questions.

A comment was made on the positive messages from the Love Wirral campaign and the use of wild flower seeds in the marketing material. A member of the public then stated that the meeting had been too long and some of the matters should have been dealt with in a separate meeting. She also spoke positively about the need to bring together funding within the constituency so that when projects were assessed on their merits funding could be made available whether the project was, for example, in Seacombe, New Brighton or Moreton.

The Chair assured the public that not all the meetings were like this one and apologised for the length of the meeting.

Some Members expressed the view that the question time part of the meeting should be brought forward on the agenda and the report from the Police Inspector could also be taken nearer the start of the meeting. Some members of the public had left by this point in the meeting and it was felt that the comments from the police inspector and responses to public questions were the most interesting and informative parts of the meeting.

The Chair agreed that he would look at this suggestion of the ordering of the agenda with the Constituency Manager.

The Chair thanked all the members of the public for their attendance.